Germany Goes To Red Alert On Shrinking Natural Gas Supplies

Russia has not stopped natural gas shipments to Germany, despite all of the hyperventilating and headlines about sanctions. There have been small reductions of Russian gas to Poland, Finland, and Romania to make political points, but nothing highly material. Still, the threat is there.

Meanwhile, Germany is having problems on the energy front with or without a cut-off of Russian supplies. Global energy shortages go far beyond what’s happening with Russia as a result of the War in Ukraine. Other suppliers are having difficulty meeting demand in part because China has purchased a large part of the global supply on long-term contracts with producers like Qatar.

Germany spent the last 14 years shutting down nuclear plants and coal-fired power plants in an effort to convert to wind turbines and solar power. The problem is that wind and solar are intermittent and unreliable sources of energy and cannot support a power grid. German natural gas supplies are running dangerously low.

Port facilities for shipments of liquid natural gas cannot be built quickly. Now, as reported in this article, Germany is sounding the alarm.

German officials are warning German industry and citizens that they must cut back on power consumption or risk actually running out of natural gas. This means a slowdown in industrial output, and homes setting thermostats at 55° F this winter (which is only five months away). Of course, this has economic repercussions that go far beyond cold homes and slower assembly lines.

Germany is the fourth-largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China, and Japan. If Germany slows down, that means less business for suppliers of parts and strategic inputs.

With the U.S., China, and Japan already slowing down for other reasons, a Germany recession could tip the world into a global recession or worse. Ironically, Germany is now returning to coal out of necessity, even though it has been one of the leaders in the Green New Scam climate hysteria. Coal may be unattractive to the greenies, but it’s better than freezing in the dark.

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